We are all busy working hard to pay our taxes and make a living, but please take time to hear who is dipping into your pocket now: the refugee resettlement program!

LB505, recently introduced in the Nebraska Legislature, seeks to make the financial piece of refugee resettlement “transparent” to citizens and those governing our State. It is important that this bill is passed!

Here are few facts that will hopefully peak your curiosity and motivate you to be actively involved!

“On average, each Middle Eastern refugee resettled in the United States costs an estimated $64,370 in the first five years, or $257,481 per household.”[1] This figure is “61 times what it costs to care for one Syrian refugee in a neighboring country for a single year or about 12 times the cost of providing for a refugee for five years.”[2] These figures do not include welfare and food stamps, many public schools costs, Head Start, Earned Income Tax Credit and more. Heavy welfare use by Middle Eastern refugees include 91% receive food stamps and 68% received cash assistance.

That is what we would like to know! Michael Patrick Leahy of Breitbart is on the case. I know most of you are reading Breitbart (right!), but I wanted to be sure we get this latest Tuberculosis news posted to keep our ‘Health Issues’ category up to date.

Leahy at Breitbart:A student enrolled at Benson Magnet High School, one of seven high schools in the Omaha, Nebraska Public Schools system, was diagnosed with active tuberculosis (TB) in November.

Health officials said they will now have to test 195 students and 12 faculty members who may have been exposed.

Two hundred thirty seven of Benson Magnet High School’s 1,273 students, or 18.6 percent, are refugees, according to Omaha Public School’s District English Language Learner/Refugee Report, 2015-16.

Officials with the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services and the Douglas County Public Health Department are withholding whether the student was foreign-born or American-born.

A number of Omaha’s refugee students were born in countries burdened by TB; Myanmar/Burma (617), Nepal (186), Somalia (140), and Bhutan (84).

As Breitbart News reported previously, foreign-born residents of Nebraska accounted for 82 percent of all cases of TB diagnosed in the state in 2014, much higher than the national average of 66 percent….

I’m wondering if the problems with the US Refugee Admissions Program will hit home once families in resettlement towns and cities find that their kids have to be tested for TB!

And, I’ve wondered for a long time if volunteers who work with refugees are given instructions on how to stay safe and keep their families safe when interfacing with newly arrived refugees. Does anyone know? (For new readers: Yes we admit refugees with TB.)

After finding a student at Benson High Magnet School with active tuberculosis (Tb), 191 additional students and faculty had to be tested. The results? An addition 7 individuals tested positive for Latent Tb.

According to medical personnel we checked with, latent Tb can become active at anytime. It is also notable that refugees make up a signigicant portion of the Benson student body.